Manchester City youngsters were reminded of the opportunities they would get under Pep Guardiola ahead of this season.
Tommy Doyle became the latest academy prospect to play for the first team when he made his first-team debut in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton this week.
Phil Foden has been successfully integrated into the first team while a host of other youngsters have made appearances under Guardiola. Those include Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who made the most of his opportunities in the Under-23s last season and emerged as one of the surprise stars of the pre-season tour of the Far East; his senior bow came at Preston in the Carabao Cup.
Harwood-Bellis and Doyle are the latest reminders of the importance of taking the chance to impress when it arises. Gareth Taylor, Under-18s coach told all of the incoming scholars this summer that had signed up with the club that they would be able to showcase their ability in first-team training - and it didn't take long to become reality.
"It's great that the manger now takes a lot of players for training practices," said Taylor.
"He's watching a lot and Pep is seeing the talent pool that is coming on. He'll have his own thoughts on the players but I remember speaking to our new scholars at their signing night and telling them that every single one of them would be over with the first team at some point this year.
"What an opportunity that is and it has not always been the case. I think within a few weeks of pre-season it had already happened and it happened a couple of times the other week as well. It's a great opportunity for these guys to impress, do all the right things and like we've seen with Taylor he's really grabbed a hold of that.
"He's stepped into whatever level he's gone, be it 18s, 23s, or the first team. He kinds took it straight on and not been a shrinking violet. He's impressed a lot of people with that and it is something he has to continue to use."
City's 2019 scholars include: Oscar Bobb, Samuel Edozie, Finley Burns, James Trafford, Kwaku Oduroh, Alex Robertson, James McAtee, Liam Delap, CJ Egan-Riley, Cieran Slicker-McNulty and Joe Hodge.
